


The Long Haul

by Heather_Night



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Good Peter, Hurt Stiles, M/M, Mercy Killing, No Sex, POV Derek, Past Character Death, Protective Derek, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 11:48:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8444635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heather_Night/pseuds/Heather_Night
Summary: Derek heard a noise above him and looked up in time to see something—a flash of white—hurling toward him.  Sticking his arms over the railing Derek was able to catch and haul a…young man?...out of the air and cradle him against his chest.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I stole some elements from canon and twisted them to suit my muse's purpose. Who knows, in a different universe maybe this could've happened.

Derek slipped past the attendants, or orderlies, or whatever the politically correct term was these days for the staff in the asylum as he streaked through the lobby area as his uncle provided a distraction.

Peter had given him very specific instructions: Find Malia Tate and bust her out of Eichen House.

“I know my daughter is somewhere in this hellhole, Derek,” his uncle’s eyes had flashed bright red, a display not only of Alpha power but also of deep stress. “I need to find her.”

Family was everything to the remaining Hales of which there were only two. Peter had recently learned he had a daughter that had been hidden from him since birth and both Derek and his uncle would do everything and anything to help family.

Loud shrieks interspersed with cackling brought home the point that not only did the outside of Eichen House, with its French Chateauesque architecture, give off a foreboding vibe but the inside was just as creepy.

“Come back here, Little Man!” a deep male voice boomed out a promise full of threat that stilled Derek’s feet as he approached the stairwell. “No!” The last syllable, delivered by the same man, was filled with surprise and a touch of eagerness or maybe glee.

Derek heard a noise above him and looked up in time to see something—a flash of white—hurling toward him. Sticking his arms over the railing Derek was able to catch and haul a…young man?...out of the air and cradle him against his chest.

Surprised brown eyes that Derek easily likened to that of a woodland creature, blinked up at Derek. “You’re special, too. Don’t let Dr. Valack catch you.”

The young man’s voice was pitched low and it was croaky; it did things to Derek’s body that it shouldn’t.

Feet pounded down the staircase and brown eyes beseeched him. “Put me down. You have to hide.” Long fingers clutched at his biceps, conveying anxiety, and Derek found himself doing the young man’s bidding.

The sharp tang of chemicals filled Derek’s nostrils and his wolf recoiled from the smell. Derek found he was still drawn to the frowning face inches from his own and he smoothed a wayward hank of brown curling hair off the pale forehead in front of him before he nodded. “Will you be okay?”

The young man turned his head on an angle and stared at Derek with bemusement. Without warning he reached out and shoved Derek. “Run!”

It was more difficult than he would’ve guessed to turn his back and head down the stairs, away from the imminent arrival of what sounded like an army of men.

The impulse to protect and defend this unknown man was warring hard with Derek’s need to fulfill his uncle’s directive and find his cousin but ultimately he caved to his Alpha’s wishes.

Prowling the basement restlessly, Derek realized no one was about and was about to head back upstairs when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. 

_Have Malia. Meet us at the car._

Derek bounded up the stairwell and broke for the doors before anyone could stop him. Fortunately there was a distraction on the other side of the lobby and as he sailed out the doors, Derek had the impression of a pale, dark haired man lolling in the grip of two men wearing scrubs.

Derek’s wolf grumbled loudly but he hushed it as he made his way to his uncle’s Imperial Blue BMW Sedan. 

“Who’s this?” a pretty girl with wavy, brunette hair demanded as Derek walked up to the car.

“Malia, this is your cousin, Derek,” Peter said as he smiled, his blue eyes twinkling. “We should get going before they sound the alarm.”

Peter never smiled unless it was to get his way. This—seeing his uncle genuinely happy—was a bit unnerving.

“I think they’re going to have their hands full for a while. They were ganging up on Stiles again,” Malia announced cheerfully. 

Derek climbed into the backseat and stifled his need to ask questions about Stiles who he was pretty sure was the name of the man whose acquaintance he had just met.

“So how did you end up in that dreadful place?” Peter asked as he left the parking area and headed back toward Beacon Hills and his apartment.

“Long story short, I’d been living as a coyote for nearly eight years before some dipshit Alpha forced me to change out of my shifted form. I haven’t been able to change back so it seemed like Eichen House was the best place for me so I could,” she threw air quoted around the next words, “’integrate back into society again’.”

“Does anyone at Eichen House know you’re a werecoyote?” Derek asked, caught between fascination and horror at his cousin’s story.

“Well, Stiles knew something was up and he told me to hide it. Stiles is crazy smart and super cute but he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia so who knows,” Malia announced. “I don’t trust anyone though so I took his advice.”

Peter glanced from the road to his daughter, his features softening. “Stiles is a patient?”

Malia gave an indelicate snort. “Yeah, although inmate might be a better word. Stiles killed his mom so he’s a lifer.”

Derek blocked out the rest of the chatter in the front seat, trying to reconcile the innocent face he’d seen with someone who could kill his mother. 

Something didn’t make sense and Derek knew he wasn’t going to be able to let it go.

-0-

Derek had paid a well-known hacker, Danny Māhealani, to look into the mysterious Stiles. It had come as a bit of a surprise when Danny had known who he was talking about even before he hacked into any databases.

“Oh, you mean Stiles Stilinski. His dad is the County Sheriff. Stiles was in my class. Why do you want to know?” the other man had looked suspicious.

“I think I met him and I’m worried about him,” Derek replied. He didn’t remember being vetted by Danny the last time he’d asked for his help and he wasn’t sure what to make of his attitude.

“Okay then. Stiles was a weird kid, freaky smart, but he was okay. He didn’t deserve what happened to him,” Danny decreed before his fingers flew over his keyboard.

“What can you tell me?” Derek probed, intrigued. 

“His mom died when Stiles was around ten and it totally messed him up. By the time we were in high school it was apparent he was having some sort of breakdown. I heard the sheriff had to institutionalize him. Poor kid,” Danny sympathized.

Danny cleared his throat. “Stiles was admitted to Eichen House in 2014. He’s being treated for Paranoid Schizophrenia. It says here Stiles gave his mom a fatal morphine overdose as she was dying from Frontotemporal Dementia. There are no plans for discharge at this time.”

Derek would have to do some research but he guessed Frontotermporal Dementia was a nasty disease and Stiles had probably been trying to do something that would help his mom. His connection to the young man gathered strength as he found they had something in common.

“Does it say how often he has visitors?” Derek asked. He wanted to get back in to see the mysterious young man. Talk to him. Try to help him.

Danny’s fingers beat a frantic rhythm on his keys. “He doesn’t have visitors according to this. His dad was advised to stop visiting as it only caused setbacks. Stiles doesn’t have any other relatives according to this. Sad.”

More like tragic.

“Can you tell me if there’s a Dr. Valack on staff at Eichen House?”

“Let me see,” Danny hummed as he worked. “Shit. We’ve been detected.”

More furious typing in conjunction with beneath the breath swearing lent a frantic air to the proceedings. Danny made one final keystroke filled with violence before he whirled around in his office chair, his face flushed a hectic color. “According to the records I checked, a Dr. Gabriel Valack doesn’t work for Eichen House but the inquiry was flagged and I had to work hard to avoid detection. Something’s not right.”

“Can you look into it some more?” Derek asked. “Name your price.” Derek wasn’t pleased at how he came by his wealth but it was at moments like this he was grateful he could put the money to good use.

“Yeah. I’ll bill you later. They’ve definitely got my attention and I’m not going to let up until I figure out what’s going on,” Danny vowed.

Derek really felt for the 18 year old institutionalized at Eichen House. He suspected Stiles had committed euthanasia and the young man was paying a steep price.

He knew a thing or two about mercy killings, having been the one to put Paige out of her misery when the Alpha bite didn’t take. It had taken Derek years to come to terms with that. There were times he thought he’d been losing his mind but then the fire that had wiped out almost all of his family came along and gave him other things to focus on and grieve over.

Maybe Stiles just needed someone to believe in him, like Derek’s uncle had in him.

Maybe Derek could be that person.

-0-

Derek filtered out the bickering coming from the kitchen. Peter and Malia treated their verbal jousting like an Olympic sporting event and they infused each round with full competitive spirit.

Quite frankly it gave Derek a headache but the other two gleaned such amusement from it that he did his best to ignore it. The pack was stable with the addition of his cousin and that’s all that really mattered.

Except for…

His cell phone trilled out the incoming call and Derek accepted it when he saw Danny’s contact information. “Hi Danny.”

“Listen, Derek, I’ve found out some heavy shit about Eichen House. I need to know what you’re going to do with the information. I might have to turn it over to the authorities,” Danny seemed breathless and rushed.

“If it’s that bad then I think you should turn it over, I’m not going to stop you, but can you tell me about it first?” Derek requested.

Peter and Malia entered the living room, drawn by Derek’s voice or maybe even his anxiety.

“Yeah, sure,” Danny breathed out a sigh of relief. “Dr. Gabriel Valack used to be a psychiatrist of some repute but he started publishing papers on trepanation as a way to discover the third eye which is supposedly some psychic bullshit. The good doctor left the employ of Eichen House around the same time Stiles Stilinski was admitted as a patient. Get this, every six months or so a patient seems to disappear from Eichen but it’s someone who has no connections to the outside so no one notices.”

“You think Dr. Valack is still practicing medicine at Eichen?” Derek demanded.

“Yeah, I do. I also think Stiles fits the profile of these patients who mysteriously disappear,” Danny hissed. “As for practicing medicine, I’m thinking it’s more like torture. The guy sounds like a total whack job.”

“I think you’re right, you need to turn this over to somebody. Can you do it anonymously or do you need me to do it?” Derek offered even though he didn’t want to go to the police. The police had done nothing for him when some crazy hunter had set his house on fire and killed his family.

“I’d rather stay out of it if possible but if you can’t keep it quiet, that’s okay. I’ll give you print outs of everything I found,” Danny promised before saying goodbye.

“So when are we visiting the good sheriff?” Peter inquired as Derek disconnected his call.

“You’ll come with me?” Derek was surprised at the offer. His uncle had kept a low profile since coming out of the coma and Derek couldn’t blame him.

Malia piped up. “We’ll both come with. There is some creepy shit going on in that place and I’ve seen it. Of course at the time I didn’t realize just how creepy it was but I want to help Stiles.”

Derek pushed the sleeves of the gray Henley up his forearms; it was time to get to work.

-0-

“You’re telling me that you think some creepy doctor is performing experiments at Eichen House and that my son is in danger?” the sheriff summed things up before he scrubbed a hand over his mouth.

“We do,” Derek confirmed. He knew his body language would work against him but he needed to do something with his hands so he folded his arms over his chest in a classic defensive posture and willed the sheriff to believe them.

“I’m going to use Malia’s statement to ask for a warrant and we’ll see what we can find at Eichen House. Please keep this quiet. No matter the outcome this is going to be rough,” the exhausted man said.

Derek studied Sheriff Stilinski. His hair was lighter, blond turning gray instead of nutmeg brown, and his eyes were a light blue instead of golden brown but there was something in his facial structure, or maybe the way he tilted his head to the side while listening, that hinted at a relationship between the two men.

“We’ll keep our silence as long as you do something. Otherwise we’ll launch our own investigation,” Peter said, arching an eyebrow.

Sheriff Stilinski reached for his phone. “I’ll let you know one way or the other.”

Derek didn’t like going through proper channels, he wanted to go storm Eichen House and find Stiles, but he knew sometimes going through legal channels had their benefits.

Now it was a waiting game and Derek was not a patient man.

-0-

Derek paced around the waiting room, waiting for word on Stiles’s condition.

The sheriff entered the room, exhaustion weighing down his shoulders, his face creased with worry. “They’re going to monitor Stiles as they taper him off of the medications. Initial tests show he was on some sort of hallucinogenic. It’ll take time but once he’s stable, he might be able to come home.”

Malia, who always spoke what was on her mind, piped up and it was cringe worthy. “I thought Stiles killed his mother?”

Sheriff Stilinski looked pained but he met Malia’s glance levelly. “We’re pretty sure Claudia talked Stiles into holding down the morphine button for her. She could get that boy to do anything she wanted, and Stiles wouldn’t know how to say no. I should’ve been there but I was working and now Stiles has to bear this burden even though no one blames him.”

Malia smiled. “Good. He didn’t seem like a killer and he was very nice to me.”

“Stiles has always had a good heart. I don’t understand how someone could do this to him, hurt him on purpose like that.” the older man said. “It’s my fault.”

Derek couldn’t absolve the man of his guilt, that would only come from Stiles, but when Stiles had really needed him his dad had been there for him.

The sheriff’s radio crackled, demanding the man’s attention. After he radioed a response he turned to Derek. “I hate to impose but could you please sit with Stiles? I don’t want him to wake up and be alone.”

Derek was already nodding his head and Peter and Malia were also agreeing to watch over his son.

As the sheriff left the room, he squeezed Derek’s shoulder. “Thank you. You gave me back my son.”

Peter and Malia, after only a brief discussion, agreed they were going to the diner down the street and that they’d come back to check on Derek and Stiles.

Derek made his way down the hallway to the room assigned to Stiles. Even if he hadn’t known the room number, Derek would’ve found it by the scent of the young man. Vanilla and cinnamon dueled with the offensive chemical tang but the homey scent won out.

Quietly entering the room, Derek moved toward the bed. Stiles’s skin was startling pale, almost a match for the white sheets, his pretty brown eyes hidden from view. The purple shadows between his eyes and in the hollows of his cheekbones emphasized the pallor and fragility of the human.

Derek sank into the chair next to the bed. He let the smooth inhalations and exhalations calm him.

“You got away,” Stiles croaked from the bed, startling Derek.

“Thanks to you,” Derek said as he sat forward.

Stiles threw a hand out and Derek carefully took it between his own, lightly chafing it. Dark lines ran up his hands and disappeared under his Henley as he pulled pain.

“You are special,” Stiles smiled from his perch of pillows, nodding to the dark lines.

“I’m a werewolf,” Derek shared.

Stiles didn’t seem surprised.

“Dr. Valack said I’m a spark,” Stiles whispered.

“Is that why he,” Derek nodding toward Stiles’s forehead, “did that to you?”

No one had said it but Gabriel Valack—there was no way Derek was referring to him as doctor—had specialized in trepanation so it wasn’t much of a stretch to guess what lay beneath the gauze across Stiles’s forehead.

“That’s what he said but I think it was just an excuse. He liked to hurt people,” Stiles pulled his hand out of Derek’s grasp and his long fingers played at the edge of the white strip nervously.

Derek smelled the salt before he saw the tears. “Hey, are you in pain? Do you need me to get a nurse or doctor?”

“No!” Stiles exclaimed as he bolted upright. “Please, no,” he begged.

Following his instincts Derek stood up and sat on the edge of the bed. “No one is going to hurt you here. Your dad is coming back but he asked me to wait with you until then.”

Stiles’s dark eyes stared back at Derek, tears welling and dripping, and then he nodded. “I should be locked up,” he whispered.

“Because of your mom?” Derek probed quietly.

“I killed her,” Stiles sobbed out on an exhalation and seemed to struggle in catching his breath.

Derek slowly raised his arm, landing a hand on the back of Stiles’s neck, squeezing.

“Stiles, look at my eyes,” Derek commanded and the quaking human obeyed.

Derek pulsed his eyes, turning them from hazel to bright blue, before he let the shift subside.

The scent of grief in Stiles dissipated, turning to curiosity. “Your eyes. They’re beautiful. They suit you.” 

Derek didn’t know if what the drugs or if Stiles was just naturally accepting but nothing about the supernatural seemed to faze him. Then again he’d been drugged and suffered trepanation at the hands of a madman so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising he could take this other world in stride.

“Do you know why my eyes turn blue when I shift?” Derek asked. 

Stiles continued to stare at him with awe, shaking his head no.

“I killed an innocent,” Derek confessed.

“What happened?” Stiles asked, tilting his head to the side. The gesture put Derek at ease. 

“I loved someone and she wanted to become a shifter but the Alpha bite didn’t take. She was dying slowly and I just couldn’t watch it. I,” Derek swallowed convulsively, trying to slow the adrenaline rampaging through his body at what he was about to disclose, “I killed her so she wouldn’t suffer anymore.”

There. Only his mother had known the truth although his uncle had guessed it. Stiles was the first person he felt could understand what he’d done and not judge him for it.

His arms were suddenly full of Stiles who burrowed into his chest. Derek tucked Stiles’s head under his chin and held him close. “Then you know,” Stiles sighed out, his voice muffled. 

Tenderness, peace and a fierce protectiveness settled over Derek. It was the same feeling he’d noticed when a certain young man had dropped out of the ether into his arms at Eichen House.

“Promise you won’t leave me,” Stiles burrowed tighter against Derek’s warmth.

“I promise,” Derek vowed.

It wasn’t a pledge made lightly. Derek’s wolf considered Stiles pack and Derek’s human side was wildly drawn to the shivering body in his arms.

He was in this for the long haul.

 

Finis

**Author's Note:**

> I think this fic will be one of my shortest offerings for my hurt/comfort bingo card but either mercy killing was going to be a monster fic in terms of words written or it was going to be stunningly short. So I could hit all of my prompts I went with what was behind Door Number Two. At least I got to use the scene that's been kicking around in my head with Stiles dropping into Derek's arms without warning.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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